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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Collegehoops.net - Daily Dribble: Memphis/Georgetown Thoughts

For whatever reason, I got more feedback than usual on my recent Pittsburgh/Duke Thoughts Dribble, so I figured I'd fire it up once again for Memphis/Georgetown. So without further ado, here are some scatter-brained thoughts on the game:

#2 Memphis 85 - #4 Georgetown 71

- Someone wake up Roy Hibbert. Granted, the game was early and Hibbert isn't exactly the Energizer bunny, but he's got to get himself going for such a big game. From about the 5th to the 35th minute, Hibbert spent the game moping around with his shoulders shrugged

- Its only one game.. so I dont want to be too harsh towards Hibbert, but I've never been a huge fan. He's going to be a Top 15 pick and then 3 years from now, when he's sitting on the end of someone's bench, people are going to wonder in the world he was..

- Remember last year when Joey Dorsey challenged Greg Oden and got owned? Well, he didn't challenge big Roy, but this year it was Dorsey doing the owning.

- Dorsey will be picked 25 spots after Hibbert but have a better career. Which isn't to say Dorsey's great.. Jay Bilas called him an "extraordinary" shot-blocker which is just plain silly, but he can make an impact on defense.

- I guess CDR's three game slump is over. The senior had scored just 9 points in his last two and was shut down by USC, but Douglas-Roberts scored 24 and provided a huge lift on offense. People talk a lot about offensive sets and schemes, but CDR was so effective because he was able to break down the D by himself.

- You think of Memphis is being a 3-point shooting team, but they consistently shoot very low percentages from long range. Guys like Rose and Anderson for example, seem to only hit shots when they have extra time to lock and load.

- Playing 26 minutes, Austin Freeman got more run then he's seen all year. The freshman was coming off two solid efforts against bad teams (15 and 21), and carried the momentum into today's tough atmosphere. He led the team with 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting, and you figure his minutes will only grow as the season progresses.

- As bad as the 2nd half was (Georgetown scored 6 points in the first 9 minutes of the half), the first half featured some great basketball. At half, John Calipari was pretty complimentary in describing Georgetown as a great team. That respect carried over into a great effort by Memphis after the break. It was the type of effort Duke didn't have coming out of the break against Pitt.

- Going along the last post, as bad as Georgetown was in the 2nd half, this team is admittedly better than I thought. I pegged them as a 10 to 15 team before the season, but they're better than that. There's no shame in going to Memphis and losing, its been 37 games since someone was able to come out of the River City with a win.

- Looking at the stats, you'd think the game went down to the wire.. both teams shot similar percentage's, had similar turnover, assists, and 3-pt totals. The difference was in the toughness categories, more rebounds from Memphis and a more aggressive offense that led to more foul shots. (It also didn't hurt that G'Town missed 11 of 23 ft's)..

- How bout 320 pound Pierre Niles giving 4 solid minutes. Not that he did much, but he hadn't played in 3 weeks.. and for his pre-game meal he ate a small child, so that has to count for something.